By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

ANDERSON TWP. - The nation's largest Kroger store is coming to this eastern Hamilton County suburb. And customers will be able to buy a diamond ring along with that head of lettuce.

The store is expected to open this fall at the revamped Beechmont Mall, now called Anderson Towne Center. At 104,000 square feet, it will be the largest of the Cincinnati-based chain's 2,500 Kroger stores and the size of about seven football fields, company spokesman Art Wulfeck said Friday.

"Ultimately we may not need to spend our money anywhere other than Kroger's," Trustee Peggy Reis joked. "We can buy lawn furniture, diamond rings. Food may not be at the top of the list."

Kroger now operates a 69,000-square-foot store across from the center on Beechmont Avenue. Construction is expected to start at the 8.6-acre, $10 million site in February.

The store will house a Fred Meyer Jewelry Store, Starbucks, drive-up pharmacy window and photo lab. There also will be a fuel station, expanded selections of international foods, sushi and a salad bar.

"We are just trying to fit everything in," Wulfeck said, adding that the expansion was driven by the area's booming population.

The current store opened in the late 1980s and has 250 to 260 workers. The new one will employ more than 300.

Kroger's biggest store now is its recently renovated, 103,000-square-foot Hyde Park Plaza store.

A Kroger official and Anderson Town Center developer Victory Investments Inc., of Columbus, Ga., are expected to unveil renderings of the new store and other details about the mall Feb. 5.

Once Kroger relocates, its old building is expected to be leased to other tenants.

E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com